Nath Tradition
Nath Sadhus travel around the world and in the last phase of their life, they stay at some place and do unbroken Dhuni or go to the Himalayan region. Nath yogis who wear tongs and kamandals in their hands, coils in the ears, waistbands and hairs on the head and meditate after doing dhuni are called avadhoot and siddha. Some yogis keep a horn of a horn and a thread made of black wool around their neck, which are called horni and seli.
The devotees of Nath cult are absorbed in devotion to Shiva with a sattvik spirit. Nath people 'Alakh' They meditate on Shiva with the word (Alaksh). Mutual 'Order' Or greeted with the word 'Adish'. 'Alakh' and 'Order' Meaning of the word 'Pranav' or 'Param Purush' it happens. There are also Naga (Digambar) and Bhabhuti-dhari sadhus in the Nath sect. They are considered to be of the sect of Udasi or Vanvasi etc. Nath Sadhu 'Hatha Yoga' Special emphasis on
Lord Dattatreya
Lord Dattatreya is considered to belong to both Vaishnava and Shaiva sects, he is counted as the chief Aghori and also as the chief Nath, while Vaishnavites worship him as a combined incarnation of Lord Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. Lord Bhairavnath is also considered the forerunner of the Nath sect. He did the work of establishing coordination between Vaishnava and Shaivism. Dattatreya is credited with developing the Nath tradition in Maharashtra. Dattatreya is considered as Adiguru.
Matsyendranath and Gorakhnath
Guru Matsyendra Nath (Machhendra Nath) and his disciple Gorakhnath provided new arrangements to the Nath sect, which has been going on since ancient times. Gorakhnath ended the disintegration of this sect and collected the teachings of yoga.
Eighty-four Siddha
The Siddha tradition emerged in the Vajrayana branch of the Mahayana sect of Buddhism in the eighth century. The number of major Siddhas is considered to be eighty-four. Eighty-four Siddhas are specially worshiped in Bengal, Nepal, Assam, Tibet and Burma.
Early Nath
The Nath cult emerged in the tradition of eighty-four Siddhas. The initial ten Naths are as follows – Adi Nath, Anandi Nath, Karala Nath, Vikrala Nath, Mahakal Nath, Kaal Bhairav Nath, Batuk Nath, Bhoot Nath, Veer Nath and Shrikanth Nath. He had twelve disciples which are in this order – Nagarjuna, Jad Bharat, Harishchandra, Satya Nath, Charpat Nath, Avadh Nath, Vairagya Nath, Kantadhari Nath, Jalandhar Nath and Malayarjuna Nath.
Nav Nath
The nine Naths became very famous in the Nath cult. They are also called Navnath. It is said in the Mahanava Tantra that Navnath is the original originator of the Nath sect. The list of Navnathas is found differently in different texts- (1.) Machendranath (2.) Gorakhnath (3.) Jalandharnath (4.) Nagesh Nath (5.) Bharti Nath (6.) Charpati Nath (7. ) Kanif Nath (8.) Gehni Nath (9.) Revan Nath.
Apart from these, Meena Nath, Khapar Nath, Sat Nath, Balak Nath, Golak Nath, Birupaksha Nath, Bhartrihari Nath, Ainath, Kherchi Nath and Ramchandra Nath also became prominent Naths. Other notable Naths include Omkar Nath, Uday Nath, Santosh Nath, Achal Nath, Gajabeli Nath, Gyan Nath, Chowringhee Nath, Baba Shilnath, Dada Dhuni Wale, Gajanan Maharaj, Goga Nath, Pandharinath and Sarain Nath etc. P>
Major Branches of Nath Sampradaya
There are many branches of the Nath sect, out of which 12 branches are considered to be prominent - (1.) Kantarnath of Bhuj, (2.) Pagalnath, (3.) Rawal, (4.) Pankh or Punk, (5.) Van, ( 6.) Gopal or Rama, (7.) Chandnath Kapilani, (8.) Hethnath, (9.) Ai Panth, (10). Verag Panth, (11.) Pavnath of Jaipur and (12.) Ghajnath.
Shaivism in South India
In South India, Shaivism became popular during the rule of Chalukya, Rashtrakuta, Pallava and Chola kings. The Nayanar saints propagated Shaivism during the Pallava period. The number of Nayanar saints is said to be 63, in which the names of Uppar, Tirugyan, Sambandar and Sundar Murti are notable. The Kailash temple of Ellora was built by the Rashtrakutas. Chola Shalak Rajaraja (I) got the Rajarajeshwara Shaiva temple built at Tanjore.
Tamil Shaiva
The Tamil country saw the birth of prominent Shaiva devotees, who were also famous poets of their time, between the 6th and 9th centuries AD. Apart from being a devotee of Saint Tirumular Shiva, the famous Tamil text 'Thirumantram' was the author of Thus Tamil Shaivism was a pluralistic realist group in South India. According to this the world is real and souls are many. The Tamil Shaivism movement evolved out of a mixture of poetic compositions by Adi Shaiva saints and exquisite devotional poems by the Nayanars.
The four classes of the accepted texts of this sect include 2 Vedas, 28 Agamas, 12 Timurai and 14 Shaiva Siddhanta Shastras. Though Vedas have a high place in Shaivism, yet 'Ekyam Shiva' The secret Agamas described by him for his devotees have been given more importance. In the early 13th and early 14th centuries, Tamil Shaivism had six Acharyas, most of whom were born into non-brahmin and low castes.
Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta Shastras were composed by these masters. Tamil Shaivite texts and poems include the works of three great Shaivite masters - Upper Tirujnana, Sambandha and Sundaramurthy. Aghor Shivacharya ji is considered to be the main founder of this school.
Kalamukh Shaivas of Andhra
The Warangal fort, located to the south-east of Warangal, the ancient capital of the Kakatiyas in Andhra Pradesh, was once surrounded by two walls, of which the stone gates (sanchar) of the inner wall and the remains of the outer wall are still present. The 1000 pillared Shiva temple built in AD 1162 is located within the city itself. During this period, the poets of Kalamukh or Ardhya Shaiva made an unprecedented progress in the Telugu language.
Among the Sanskrit poets of Warangal, the names of Veer-Bhallat-Deshik, the author of Sarvashastra Visharad, and Agastya, the author of Nal-Kirti-Kaumudi, are noteworthy. It is believed that this Agastya was the author of the famous book Pratap-Rudra-Bhushan of Alankar Shastra. Senapati Jayap, the figure of Ganapati, was the author of the dance-ratnavali. Sanskrit poet Shakalya Malla was also a contemporary of this.
Among the Telugu poets, the author of Ranganatha Ramayanam is Palkuriki Somnath. Bhaskara Ramayanaum was also written at the same time. The idol of Balaji or Venkateswara in the famous Tirupati temple today is basically the statue of Veerabhadra Swamy. It is believed that during the time of King Krishna Devaraya, Ramanuja Acharya Vaishnavised this temple and named the idol of Veerabhadra as Balaji. Since then this idol is worshiped as Vishnu Deity.
Kashmiri Shaivism
Vasugupta is considered to be the founder of the tradition of Kashmir Shaivism. He formed the Kashmiri Shaivism in the latter half of the 9th century. Vasugupta had two famous disciples named Kallat and Somananda. His philosophical view 'theism' was. Somanand 'Pratyabhigya Vote' rendered. The word Pratibhigya means that the seeker should know his previously known object.
In this state the seeker experiences indescribable bliss. He used to conceive of duality in non-dualism and saguna in nirguna. He described mere knowledge and mere devotion as incapable of attaining salvation. Moksha can be attained only by the coordination of both.
Although pure devotion is not possible without duality and duality is ignorance oriented, but after attaining knowledge, when duality is conceived, then there is no possibility of any harm from it. In this way, there were some such seekers in this sect who wanted to get the real address of the secret through yoga-action, they had the belief that by yoga-action we can remove the veil of Maya and only in this condition the attainment of salvation is possible. .
Aghori sect
The word Aghor is two words- 'A' and 'Ghoar' It is composed of which means- 'that which is not harsh' That is, be easy and simple. Since everything is easy and simple for them and there is nothing gross and inauspicious, therefore, from eating dead bodies in the crematorium to eating kai and feces, they consider it easy, simple, auspicious and aghor deeds. That's why they are called Aghori.
Nothing can be said with certainty about the origin of the Aghor cult, but they are considered as ancient as the Kapalik sect. This sect developed as an independent branch of Shaivism. Aghori sadhus remain detached from society and are known for their strange behavior, solitude and mysterious activities.
There are also many branches of the Aghor sect, but they can be broadly placed in two classes, Shaivamargi and Vammargi. The Shaivamargi Aghori do not eat human excreta while the Vaammargi Aghori eat human excreta. They are also called Kak Aghori.
Avadhoot Lord Dattatreya is considered to be the master of Aghor Shastra. The Aghor sect believes that parts of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva took the form of Dattatreya in a gross form. Sadhus of Aghor sect are devotees of Lord Shiva. According to them Shiva is complete in himself and exists in all forms of creation including matter, conscious. Moksha can be attained by cultivating the body and mind and knowing the true nature of all conditions like matter-consciousness etc.
According to Aghor belief, every human being is born Aghor means easy. As the child grows up, he learns to differentiate and discomforts and evils take hold in him due to which he forgets his original nature i.e. Aghor form. Through Aghor sadhna man can come back to his natural and original form. The attainment of salvation is possible only after having the knowledge of this original form.
The Sadhaks of the Aghor sect wear Narmund's garlands to develop equanimity towards everything and use Narmunds as pots. They apply the ashes of the pyre on the body and prepare food on the fire of the pyre. There is no distinction of place in aghor vision, that is, the palace or the cremation ground are the same. Therefore, Aghor Sadhanas are mainly performed at cremation grounds and deserted places. Shav Sadhana is a special practice of Aghor cult through which one's existence is experienced at different stages of life.
Varanasi or Kashi is known as the most important Aghor site of India. Being the city of Lord Shiva, a large number of Shaivite Aghoris reside in Kashi. The site of Baba Keenaram, located in Kashi, is an important pilgrimage of the Aghoris. Girnar mountain of Junagadh region of Gujarat is also an important place of Aghoris. Junagadh is recognized as the place of penance of the Avadhoot Lord Dattatreya.
Most Aghori in India live in the Kamakhya temple of Assam. It is believed that when Mother Sati was consumed, her vagina fell at this place. Aghori are also seen near Tarapith of West Bengal, Ardh Jyotirling of Nashik and Mahakal of Ujjain. It is believed that at these places the Aghoris get siddhis quickly.
Sadhaks of the Aghor sect are also known to eat the flesh of the deceased. The flesh of the deceased is untouchable to the general public, but the Aghors see it as a natural substance and by absorbing it, they balance the natural cycle. The principle of developing cosmic vision works behind the meat-eating of the deceased.
According to some evidence, Aghor seekers also have the ability to make pure vegetarian sweets from dead meat. There are many misconceptions and mystery stories about the Aghor sect in the public mind. In Aghor Vigyan, an attempt has been made to logically present Aghor actions and beliefs as pure science by eliminating all these misconceptions.